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Yogesh Sayrange, 36, is accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at two Queens houses of worship and a nearby commercial building late Wednesday night before officers arrested him carrying additional incendiary devices, according to police and law enforcement sources.
Sayrange allegedly targeted Iglesia Bautista El Mesias in the Ozone Park neighborhood shortly before 11 p.m., where surveillance video appears to show him speaking with three other men before lighting a Molotov cocktail and throwing it over the front gate toward the church’s entrance.
The bottle ignited near the front door before Sayrange walked away, according to surveillance video published by the New York Post.
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The FDNY confirmed to Fox News Digital that it received a call at 11:57 p.m. Wednesday for a reported incendiary device thrown at a church on 75th Street in Ozone Park. Fire marshals and the NYPD are investigating.
Police said Sayrange then walked less than a mile to a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in nearby Woodhaven, where he allegedly threw another Molotov cocktail at the building’s front entrance, sparking a second fire.
The FDNY also confirmed to Fox News Digital that it received a second call at 12:08 a.m. Thursday for a reported incendiary device thrown at a church on 78th Street in Woodhaven. Fire marshals and the NYPD are investigating.
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Police said no injuries or significant damage were reported at either church.
Investigators later determined Sayrange also allegedly threw a third Molotov cocktail at an ambulette service building on Rockaway Boulevard near 77th Street in Woodhaven around the same time, police said.
No injuries or damage were reported there, police said.
Officers took Sayrange into custody at about 12:10 a.m. Thursday and recovered two additional Molotov cocktails from his backpack, according to police sources.
Investigators are also examining whether Sayrange may be connected to several similar incidents dating back to last month, according to law enforcement sources. Authorities have not publicly announced any additional cases tied to him.
Sayrange appeared in federal court Thursday in connection with a criminal complaint alleging he threw an incendiary device into a Brooklyn business on June 25.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York for additional information about the Queens investigation.
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